*** Official 2019 Kansas City Royals Repository ***

[Mama Hip Rockets]

Get the offseason thread out of here. It's on!

Opening day roster:

Catchers (2): Cam Gallagher, Martin Maldonado

Infielders (7): Hunter Dozier, Lucas Duda, Whit Merrifield, Adalberto Mondesi, Ryan O’Hearn, Chris Owings, Frank Schwindel

Outfielders (4): Alex Gordon, Terrance Gore, Billy Hamilton, Jorge Soler

Starting pitchers (3): Jakob Junis, Brad Keller, Jorge Lopez

Relief pitchers (9): Scott Barlow, Brad Boxberger, Jake Diekman, Chris Ellis, Tim Hill, Ian Kennedy, Kevin McCarthy, Wily Peralta, Kyle Zimmer

Injured list: Danny Duffy, Brian Flynn, Jesse Hahn, Salvador Perez

Suspended: Eric Skoglund

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by DeepSouth

I see what you're saying. Probably get very little for Soler. Wouldn't be getting all of Gordon's value if he's moved to DH because of defensive value.



Look at this roster;

Gordon LF

Starling CF

Whit RF

Dozier 3rd

Mondesi SS

Lopez 2nd

O'Hearn 1st

Maldonado C



That leaves DH. Who would you rather have? Soler or Gutierrez ? I'd rather have Gutierrez.

I’d rather have Soler playing basically every day and Gutierrez serving a UTIL-style role. He has some alarming peripherals (K rate, BABIP) that suggest this isn’t real.

[Titty Meat]

There's talk the o's might not draft Rutschman. It's too bad we couldnt sell high with Salvy had to keep him around so all 10k fans would come out and support the team!

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Kinda looks like a guy that could have a nice, long, Placido Polanco sort of career.



That may be shooting a little higher (Polanco was a criminally underrated ballplayer) but it may not be far off either. He probably won't reach those high-end versions of Polanco that we saw in Detroit (that I still think may have been a little 'aided') but Polanco was a damn good player; steady as the sunrise and helped teams in a lot of different ways.

In offensive slash profile, yes. Lopez offers more defensive and baserunning value. He should be a 15-20 SB guy at the MLB level, easy.

Originally Posted by Titty Meat

There's talk the o's might not draft Rutschman. It's too bad we couldnt sell high with Salvy had to keep him around so all 10k fans would come out and support the team!

Salvador Perez has two years left on his contract.

Rutschman won’t be done playing college baseball until end of June (in all likelihood) and won’t make it past high A this year. He’ll almost certainly start next year at High A. His arrival time would be mid season 2021 at the earliest.

Your complaint is invalid.

[BWillie]

Im quite certain PB IS Kevin Kietzman.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

In offensive slash profile, yes. Lopez offers more defensive and baserunning value. He should be a 15-20 SB guy at the MLB level, easy.

Slow down now.

Placido Polanco was an elite defensive 2b for large swaths of his career. And while you have little reason to recall this, when Tatis got dealt and Mac's leg didn't work and all kinds of weird stuff happened in the OF in 2001, the Cards put Polanco at 3b where he was GG caliber (I think he was a finalist). He also played credible SS at least in his younger days.

Polanco was a hell of a defensive player at multiple positions on the IF. Unless Lopez ends up among the best defensive 2b (and at times 3b) in the AL, I'd be hard pressed to concede that he provides more defensive value.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

That’s a fair criticism. Maybe I’m being too harsh on the talents and abilities of our 12-24 squad?

.333 is alright by me!!

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Slow down now.



Placido Polanco was an elite defensive 2b for large swaths of his career. And while you have little reason to recall this, when Tatis got dealt and Mac's leg didn't work and all kinds of weird stuff happened in the OF in 2001, the Cards put Polanco at 3b where he was GG caliber (I think he was a finalist). He also played credible SS at least in his younger days.



Polanco was a hell of a defensive player at multiple positions on the IF. Unless Lopez ends up among the best defensive 2b (and at times 3b) in the AL, I'd be hard pressed to concede that he provides more defensive value.

The scouts I have on him mention above-average SS defense, with good hands, good range, and sufficient arm strengthC.

That profile should play pretty similarly to polanco at 2B.

I remember Placi being a really good 2B and solid 3B (arm was a little lacking). Don’t think he ever had the chops to stick at SS on an everyday basis, though.

KC is considering moving Mondesi to CF for Lopez, and that’s a guy profiling as an above-average SS with the tools to be more.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

The scouts I have on him mention above-average SS defense, with good hands, good range, and sufficient arm strengthC.

That profile should play pretty similarly to polanco at 2B.

I remember Placi being a really good 2B and solid 3B (arm was a little lacking). Don’t think he ever had the chops to stick at SS on an everyday basis, though.

KC is considering moving Mondesi to CF for Lopez, and that’s a guy profiling as an above-average SS with the tools to be more.

Plapo couldn't stick at SS as he aged, no. But earlier in his career he was absolutely capable of playing it. Would he have been a guy I'd have said "yeah, that's a starting SS?" No - but I wouldn't have said that about DeJong either and that guy's proven to be a hell of a defender over there by simply being a very sound player.

I mean I guess there's a question here regarding how you view 2b when you get right down to it. I've played both sides of the bag and I will contend to my dying day that SS is an easier position. The technical skills required at 2b are far greater than SS and some people simply never get them ironed out. So while it may be that Lopez has a little more range (I think you're underestimating Polanco's arm - it was good; not elite, but good), what made Polanco so damn valuable at 2b was how slick he was over there.

Athleticism doesn't rule the day at 2b. So is a good SS inherently more valuable than an elite 2b? I'm not sure it is. And frankly, if the Royals are looking at moving Mondesi to CF to make room for him that's probably more of an indictment of their long-term CF options than anything (and frankly, shortsighted and kinda foolish, IMO).

It's possible I'm undervaluing Lopez on defense - do you believe it's likely that he's appreciably better defensively than what DeJong's been to this point? But I also think you're not giving due weight to just how good Polanco was at 2b and how well he played at 3b when he was asked to.

[DeepSouth]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

KC is considering moving Mondesi to CF for Lopez, and that’s a guy profiling as an above-average SS with the tools to be more.

This would be big. I haven't heard this rumor for a while. But, your sources are usually right-on. So, Starling goes to LF or RF?

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Plapo couldn't stick at SS as he aged, no. But earlier in his career he was absolutely capable of playing it. Would he have been a guy I'd have said "yeah, that's a starting SS?" No - but I wouldn't have said that about DeJong either and that guy's proven to be a hell of a defender over there by simply being a very sound player.

I mean I guess there's a question here regarding how you view 2b when you get right down to it. I've played both sides of the bag and I will contend to my dying day that SS is an easier position. The technical skills required at 2b are far greater than SS and some people simply never get them ironed out. So while it may be that Lopez has a little more range (I think you're underestimating Polanco's arm - it was good; not elite, but good), what made Polanco so damn valuable at 2b was how slick he was over there.

Athleticism doesn't rule the day at 2b. So is a good SS inherently more valuable than an elite 2b? I'm not sure it is. And frankly, if the Royals are looking at moving Mondesi to CF to make room for him that's probably more of an indictment of their long-term CF options than anything (and frankly, shortsighted and kinda foolish, IMO).

It's possible I'm undervaluing Lopez on defense - do you believe it's likely that he's appreciably better defensively than what DeJong's been to this point? But I also think you're not giving due weight to just how good Polanco was at 2b and how well he played at 3b when he was asked to.

Pablo Sandoval making a defensive play at 2B gives me fuzzy skepticism of baseball conventional wisdom.

[Munson]

SOLER POWER!

[tk13]

Soler just hit one halfway up the batter's eye in center field in Houston. That's a shot.

[Munson]

Is there an emoji for King Big-Time power? ☀️��#AlwaysRoyal pic.twitter.com/KGDm4hPWpO

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 8, 2019

[tk13]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

Pablo Sandoval making a defensive play at 2B gives me fuzzy skepticism of baseball conventional wisdom.

The Brewers basically threw it out the window the last two years by putting Shaw and now Moustakas there.

[Munson]

O'Hearn slam!!!